The present invention relates to telephone call record processing in telephone call centers, and more particularly, to a system and method for processing call records for use with both inbound telephone and outbound telephone calls in a telephone call center.
Many businesses and customer service organizations utilize a telephone call center to place outbound telephone calls and receive inbound telephone calls to and from customers or potential customers, for example, for credit collection or telemarketing. Computer telephony integration (CTI) has allowed telephone call centers to more efficiently handle both outbound telephone calls and inbound telephone calls. These computerized telephony systems typically include an automated dialer that automatically places outbound telephone calls, an automatic call distributor (ACD) that handles large volumes of inbound telephone calls, and a telephone call center management system that controls these and other components of the telephony system. One example of a system and method for integrating outbound and inbound telephone calls is disclosed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,179 issued Dec. 17, 1996, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
Telephone call centers also include a number of audio head sets and data terminals used by agents or operators to communicate with the called parties and calling parties. Using the data terminal, such as a PC, the agents can view and/or enter call record data pertaining to the party (e.g., the customer or potential customer) and the transaction being made. The telephone call center management system typically controls the allocation of the agents to the inbound and/or outbound telephone calls and the management of the data presented to the agents and entered by the agents. The processing of a series of telephone calls (inbound or outbound) in a telephone call center is often referred to as a call campaign.
To initiate an outbound call campaign, the telephone call center management system generates a predefined, sorted customer call list having a number of customer call records (CCRs) including, for example, a telephone number to be called, a name, address, account number, and other information pertaining to the customer and the transaction. The call records pertaining to an outbound call campaign are typically downloaded from a call record source, such as a host computer, and are organized, e.g., according to the calling time, into the call lists. The telephony system reads a call record from the predefined call lists, displays the information from that call record on a display at a terminal of an available agent, and dials the telephone number, either automatically or at the request of the agent. The system monitors the call and if an answer is detected, the called party is connected to the agent. The agent can then enter additional information and the call record in the call list will be updated accordingly upon completion of the outbound telephone call.
Outbound telephone calls are typically grouped according to a particular application. One example of an outbound telephone call campaign is in the field of telemarketing where the agents or telemarketing service representatives (TSRs) market products and/or services to the called party and take orders for the products and/or services. In this example, the telephone calls may be grouped according to the type of product or service that is being marketed.
Typically, for every outbound call application there is also an inbound call application. Customers or potential customers that have been called or are scheduled to be called in the outbound call campaign often place an inbound telephone call pertaining to that application. For example, a customer may be calling regarding an order placed during an outbound call made earlier in the day, or a potential customer may be calling back to place an order.
For an inbound telephone call campaign, the ACD or other similar device receives the inbound telephone calls and distributes the inbound telephone calls to the appropriate available agent. Typically, the call center management system determines the appropriate agent(s) and allocates the agent accordingly. Upon requesting information from the calling party, such as a name, address, telephone number, or account number, the agent can obtain additional information pertaining to the calling party, if any exists, from the host computer. Alternatively, a Voice Response Unit (VRU) can be used to request the information from the calling party and automatically transfer any additional information from the host computer to the agent. Such a system is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,981 issued Nov. 17, 1992, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
Although the inbound and outbound calls can be integrated in a single telephone call center, the existing call center management systems process call records for inbound telephone calls independently of the call records used for outbound telephone call campaigns. The existing telephony call systems retrieve call records from the host for use with inbound calls and do not have the ability to access the up-to-date call records organized in the outbound call list. The existing systems also do not update the call records in the outbound call list as a result of the changes made during inbound telephone calls.
Thus, the agents may be unaware of a recent transaction with a customer made during an outbound call when that customer places an inbound call, or vice versa. As a result, customers or potential customers may be inconvenienced when asked to provide information that was previously provided during an outbound telephone call to that customer or potential customer. Also, customers or potential customers may be unnecessarily called during an outbound call campaign after the customer or potential customer has previously placed an inbound telephone call. Overall, existing telephony call systems do not efficiently process call records used for both inbound and outbound telephone call campaigns.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for processing inbound and outbound telephone calls that allows call records in an outbound call list to be accessed and used for inbound telephone calls. A need also exists for an inbound/outbound call record processing system and method that efficiently and automatically retrieves the desired call record in the outbound call list and provides the call record to an available agent to minimize the time that the calling party must wait. Furthermore, a need exists for an inbound/outbound call record processing system and method that updates the call records in an outbound call list with any changes that have been made as a result of inbound telephone calls.
The present invention features an inbound/outbound call record processing system, for processing call records for use with both inbound telephone calls and outbound telephone calls in a telephone call center. The inbound/outbound call record processing system comprises at least one outbound call list including a plurality of call records each having a record identifier and a plurality of data fields. The system also comprises a call record index table including a plurality of indexed call records corresponding to the call records in the outbound call list. Each of the indexed call records includes a record identifier corresponding to the record identifier of one of the call records in the outbound call list and includes one or more searchable key fields. The system further comprises a call record finder, responsive to at least one inbound telephone call from a calling party, for receiving identification data associated with the calling party, for searching at least the call record index table for key field data matching the identification data, for obtaining a record identifier of a matching call record having the matching key field data, and for retrieving the matching call record from the outbound call list.
The identification data can include an automatically identified telephone number of the calling party or requested information provided by the calling party, such as a name, zip code, or account number.
The system further comprises an exclusion list, for listing call records to be excluded from outbound telephone calls. Matching call records found by the call record finder to be used for inbound telephone calls are placed in the exclusion list.
The system further comprises at least one call record update table including a plurality of updated call records that have been updated as a result of inbound telephone calls. A call record updater is responsive to a completion of the inbound telephone call, for inserting an updated call record into the call record update table. The call record update table is searchable by the call record finder.
The system also preferably includes a call list updater, for updating the outbound call list with the updated records in the call record update table. The system also preferably includes a call record index table creator/updater, for creating the call record index table based on the one or more outbound call lists and for updating the call record index table based on changes to the one or more outbound call lists.
The present invention also features a method for processing call records for use with both inbound telephone calls and outbound telephone calls in a telephone call center. The method comprises the steps of: providing one or more outbound call lists including call records used to make outbound telephone calls, wherein each call record includes a call record identifier and a plurality of data fields; receiving at least one inbound telephone call from a calling party and identification data associated with the calling party; finding at least one matching call record having the identification data of the calling party in the outbound call list; placing the matching call record into an exclusion list of excluded call records, for excluding the matching call record from being used for outbound telephone calls; transferring the matching call record to a agent terminal assigned to the inbound telephone call, for processing said inbound telephone call and updating said matching call record to generate an updated call record; and inserting the updated call record into a call record update table.
The method of finding the matching call record preferably includes first searching the call record update table for an updated call record having the identification data. If the matching call record is not found in the call record update table, the step of finding the matching call record includes searching a call record index table for an indexed call record having the key field data that matches the identification data, wherein the indexed call record having the key field data that matches the identification data includes a record identifier corresponding to the record identifier of one of the call records in the outbound call list; and retrieving the matching call record having the corresponding record identifier found in the call record index table from the outbound call list.
The method preferably includes first searching the updated call record table and/or the indexed call record table using an automatically identified telephone number of the calling party and then using requested information provided by the calling party, if a matching record with the telephone number is not found. The preferred method further includes the steps of creating a new call record when a matching call record is not found; and inserting the new call record in the call record update table.
The preferred method further includes the steps of: updating the outbound call list with the updated call records in the call record update table; deleting the excluded call records from the exclusion list; and assigning new call records in the call record update table to a new call record table.